Remote control electric arc welder



A. R. SHAY REMOTE CONTROL ELECTRIC ARC WELDER Nov. 18, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 29, 1948 Albert al ATTORNEYS NOV. 18, 1952 Y 2,618,775

REMOTE CONTROL ELECTRIC ARC WELDER Filed July 29, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Wig. 5.

INV EN TOR.

ATTORN EYS Nov. 18, 1952 A. R. SHAY REMOTE CONTROL ELECTRIC ARC WELDER Filed July 29, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 WELDING GENERATO wan/Ne ELECTRODE A MMETER GROUND/N6 CLAMP IN V EN TOR.

41 berflfflhay flamjwwa.

ATTORNEYS A. R. SHAY REMOTE CONTROL ELECTR I EC ARC WELDER Nov. 18, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jul 29, 1948 Eur I l mu ll! I LLIIIUTI Alberf ATTD R N EYS Patented Nov. 18, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REMOTE CONTROL ELECTRIC ARC WELDER Albert R. Shay, Mantua, Ohio Application July 29, 1948, Serial No. 41,266

1 Claim. 1

justing the exciter for the shunt field of the generator and also for changing the series field characteristics by means of remotely controlled shunts.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a remotely controllable motor driven reel for storage of the welding and control cables. This permits the cable to be conveniently rolled up, driving the reel by the motor, and to be readily withdrawn as required by merely pulling on the cables.

Other and further objects will become apparent upon reading the following specification together wih the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a reversing switch used in practicing the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view in elevation of the reversing switch taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the reversing switch of Fig. 1 showing the switch in an intermediate transitory position.

Fig. 4 is an elevational view similar to Fig. 3

showing the switch de-energized and actuated Fig. 6 is a plan view of a shunt control relay. I

Fig. 7 is an elevational view of the relay of Fig. 6, partly broken away.

Fig. 8 is an end elevational view of the relay of Fig. 6.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of a remote control housing showing the external arrangement of the remote controls.

Fig. 10 is a bottom fragmentary view of the remote control housing shown in Fig. 9.

Referring to Fig. 5, the entire system comprises an internal combustion engine (not shown) which may be of any desired and conventional type and which drives a welding generator designated generally as H together with its exciter l2 and the usual battery charging generator ;and any desired form may be used.

A reversing switch, designated generally as i6 l3, which is provided with a reverse current cutout of conventional construction illustrated diagrammatically as M, the cutout being arranged to prevent the battery 15 from driving generator l3 as a motor at times when the generator voltage. is insufiicient to deliver a charging current to the battery. I

The several generators are all of the type in which the generated voltage remains fairly in-- dependent of engine speed after a predetermined minimum speed has been reached, and this has been indicated diagrammatically by showing their brushes arranged at right angles'to each knownother. Generators of this type are well is arranged to reverse the polarity of the welding generator each time the engine starting control is operated. This permits the operator to select remotely the desired polarity for the work' at hand, and also permits convenient reversal of the welding current polarity. The polarity reversing switch comprises an operating winding l1 arranged to magnetize a pair of spaced pole pieces I8 and I9. Disposed intermediate pole pieces I8 and I9 is an armature v member which is pivoted at 2| and which may therefore be brought selectively into proximity with either pole piece l8 or IS. A pair of tension springs 22 and 23 exert downward forces on pins 24 and 25 respectively thereby urging movable contacts 25 and 21 into relatively light but effective engagement with stationary contact members 28 and 29 respectively, as may best be seen in Fig. 4.

Upon energization of operating winding ll,

armature 20 will be drawn strongly toward pole piece l9, causing fiexure of contact'fingers 26 and 21. Upon de-energization of operating winding [1, the springiness or elasticity of the flexed contact fingers 26 and 21 will cause armature 20 to travel past its center position against the tension of springs Hand 23 thereby causing con-- will be thrown back, returning to its original position as illustrated in Fig. 4 by virtue of the similar elasticity or springiness of flexed contact fingers 30 and 3|. Connection to contacts 26 and 30 is established through a flexible conductor 34 and with contacts 21 and 3| through an independent flexible conductor 35. The several contacts 26 to 33 are connected as a reversing switch as may be seen in Fig. 5, successive energizations of winding I'I producing successive and corresponding reversals of polarity of the current derived through contacts 26 to 33 from battery l5.

The remote control apparatus comprises two rheostats 36 and 31 and an ammeter 38 which indicates both the polarity of the exciter and hence the welding generator as well as the degree of excitation and hence the open circuit welding voltage available.

The welding cables 39 and 40 together with the control conductors 4| and 42 are carried by a storage reel 43 which may be operated by an electric motor 44 for winding up the welding cables 39 and 40 together with the control conductors 4| and 42. The welding cables and conductors may be conveniently withdrawn to any desired extent by simply pulling thereon, thus rotating the reel. Action of reel motor may be controlled at will by means of rheostat 31 while the engine and generators are stopped, energy for this purpose being derived from battery it. A circuit is traceable from the reversing switch along conductor 45, through winding 460i relay 41, conductor'48, closed contacts 49- -53 of relay conductor 52, closed contacts 53-54 of relay 55 and conductor ill-to rheostat 3?. This circuit is completed through welding cable 39 and conductor 56 to the other side of the reversing switch, thus energizing relay 4! at will by turning rheostat 31 to and from its off position.

Similarly, the engine may be started or stopped at will by turning'rheostat 33 to and from its off position. This circuit is traceable from one side of the reversing switch through winding 57 of relay 58 and conductor 59 and through the field windingGG of exciter I? to conductor 42 which extends .to rheostat 35. The circuit is completed through ammeter 38, welding cable 39, and conductor 56 to the other side of the reversing switch. This circuit causes energization of relay 53 which closes its contacts lib-62 connecting battery i5 through conductor 63 and contacts 6l62 to the Winding of the engine starting relay (not shown). Closure of appropriate contacts of the engine starting relay causes the engine to crankfrom the usual starter and at the same time energizes relay 5| disengaging contact 55 from contact 49 and bringing it into engagement with contact 64. This transfers the control circuit responsive to the on or oiT positioning of rheostat 31 from the reel motor 44 to the winding 65 of relay 66, which may now be controlled at will instead of relay 4?. The contacts 61-453 of relay 66 control the application of current from battery 15 via conductor 63 :to an electrically controlled choke (not shown) for enriching'the air-fuel mixture supplied by the engine carburetor during starting of the engine, a r

' After the enginestarts and comes up to speed, battery charging generator I3 builds up voltage causing the-operation of cutout l4 and the flow of charging current'to battery I 5. Simultaneously, current from battery charging generator 13 issupplied via conductor to the operating winding of relay 55. This causes contact 54 to break .irom its normal engagement with contact 53 and close a circuit to contact 12. This in turn prevents operation ofreel motor 44 or the engine choke control by preventing operation of relays 4'! and 66 respectively and establishes a control circuit for a group of series field shunts from rheostat 31 via conductor 4|, closed contacts 54-12 of relay 55, conductor 13, winding [4 of multi-contact relay l5 and Winding 16 of marginal relay T7 to conductor 45 which is energized from the reversing switch. The circuit is completed from the reversing switch via conductor 56 and welding cable 39. Multi-contact relay i5 is shown provided with a group of six independently movable armatures 3| to 86 which are of progressively increasing electromagnetic sensitivity. Armatures 8! to engage corresponding contacts for the selective operation of relays 8| to respectively, which are provided with heavy duty contacts appropriate for the control of the relatively heavy currents in the welding circuits.

The relays 9| to 93 are similar in construction, each of the relays being constructed as illustrated in Figs. 6, '7 and 8. Each relay is provided with an operating winding It! secured to a frame "12 arranged to attract an armature 133 which is normally urged away therefrom by a retractible spring 164. A heavy conductive bridging member IE5 is carried by armature Hi3 at its outer end and is arranged for bridging engagement between fixed contacts I55 and H31 when armature 163 is attracted by energization of operating winding hii.

As rheostat 31 is turned to increase the flow of current through operating windings i4 and '56 of relays l5 and 17 respectively, the armatures 8i to 83 are successively attracted causing successive operation of relays 91 to '83. Operation of relay SI establishes a preparatory circuit for the selective connection of certain shunts by relays 92 to 3%. Relay 92 uses the circuit established by relay 9! to connect shunt H2 across series field H0 of welding generator H. Relay 93 then connects shunt H3 across series field iii! in multiple with shunt H2 already connected by relay 92. The relays 17 and 55 are so adjusted relative to each other that relay 7'! operates and releases on current values in the range between the current values which determine the operation and release of armatures 83 and 84 or relay l5. Hence with further increase of current and the accompanying pulling in of armature 84, relay 1'! operates and breaks the circuit of conductor H6 rendering armatures 82 and 83 ineffective to cause operation of relays 92 and 93 and at the same time preparing a circuit via conductor l I! for the operation of relays 34 to 98 by armatures 84 to 86. Armature 8! remains effective since its circuit includes a direct connection to battery 15 via conductor 63.

Further increase in current causes operation of relay 94 rendering shunt H4 effective and additional increase causes operation of relay 95 making the combination of shunts H4 and H5 in multipleeffective as to series field I It. At maximum current in the relay circuit, relay 95 is operated through the circuit of armature 86 and the contacts of relay 96 are connected to shunt out the additional series field Ill directly. In this latter condition, series field H0 is shunted by shunts H4 and H5 in multiple and series field I II is substantially entirely shunted out. Under this condition, the welding generator operates with a minimum of compounding action. Although rheostat 3'1 is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 5 as an ordinary rheostat, it may advantageously take the form shown in Fig. 9, in which six fixed conditions of adjustment are provided by a tap switch connected to one or more resistors which are connected to provide the appropriate resistance value in the circuit of control conductor 4|. These predetermined fixed resistance values may be obtained by means of the tap switch arrangement illustrated in Fig. 10.

Rheostat 36 may be of conventional construction without any particular number of positions, and will provide fairly uniform cur-rent variation. The magnitude of this exciter field current is indicated by ammeter 38 and this magnitude will serve as an indication of the voltages being developed by exciter I2. The armature I20 of exciter I2 is directly connected by conductors I2I and I22 to the shunt field I23 of welding generator I I. The ammeter 38 thus serves to indicate the excitation of the welding generator I I as well as the polarity established by reversing switch which in turn determines the polarity of this excitation and hence the polarity of the welding current. For this reason, ammeter 38 has been indicated as of the zero-center type.

When it is desired to stop the generator, rheostat 36 is turned to its off position, opening the circuit through exciter shunt field 60 and winding 51 of relay 58. This opens contacts 6 I62 which closed the circuit to the engine starter. It also opens a circuit from contacts BI62 to winding I! of the reversing switch, allowing the flexed contact fingers 26, 21, or 30, 3I, as the case may be, to throw the reversing switch to its other position so that the next starting will take place with reversed polarity. As relay 58 releases, contacts I25 and I26 close, applying a ground to the circuit of the engine magneto, thereby cutting off the ignition and stopping the engine.

It will be noted that the welding cables 39 and 40 have been shown provided with a welding electrode I30 and a work grounding clamp I32 respectively which are of usual construction in all respects.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim.

I claim:

In a system for remotely controlling the operation of an engine driven generator, an exciter for said generator, a battery charging generator, a reverse current cutout for said last generator, a reversing switch in circuit with said generators for reversing the polarity of the first generator, a rheostat in series with the field of the exciter, manually operable means for adjusting said rheostat and said rheostat having an oii position, a shunt electrically connected to said first generator, a second rheostat electrically connected to said shunt and relay field circuit and said second rheostat having an ofi position and electrically connected to said reversing switch so that as said driven generator is controlled by said rheostat for the starting and stopping thereof said switch will be operated to change the polarity of said first generator.

ALBERT R. SHAY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,043,331 Notvest June 9, 1936 2,172,026 Longley Sept. 5, 1939 2,425,183 Hall Aug. 5, 1947 

